The Role Of Gender In The Formation Of Vocational Interests

And Career Orientation In Adolescence

BY-PRIYA RANJAN SAHOO

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OFUKRAINE

School Of MedicineHYGIENE AND ECOLOGY

ABSTRACTThis work aims at studying the role of gender in the formation of vocational interests and career orientation during adolescence;The study is based on John L. Holland’s theory regarding vocational interests and E. Schein’s theory of career anchors. The sample was composed of 48 pupils in the 12th grade, 40 boys and 44 girls.

Introduction Adolescence is an extremely important period in human development, as

it makes the transition from a stage in life to another, from childhood to maturity. This research was aimed at studying career choice in adolescence, when this aspect becomes fundamental, according to interviews on identity.

In which adolescents proved that school and future occupation are their most important concerns. Schein’s theory introduces the concept of “career anchor”, which implies a reference field, which is so overwhelmingly important for a person that (s)he can never abandon it. John L. Holland developed a system of correspondence of 6 personality traits with their corresponding professions

Holland’s theory is symmetric and parallel. Throughout time, gender differences have been studied in various areas of human existence, thus, demonstrating a series of differences between boys and girls in terms of developing language and mathematical reasoning and the way they relate to school and school task.

Research methodology

Research objectives and hypotheses

Research modelInstruments

The study has the following purposes:

1) to establish whether there are gender differences in terms of vocational interests;

2) to reveal whether there are gender differences in terms of career orientation.

 

Research objectives and hypotheses

Research model

The sample was composed of eighty four pupils in the 12th grade, aged 17, 18 and 19, who study mathematics-informatics. The sample was performed on pupils who had the same specialisation in order to avoid contribution of certain uncontrollable variables, like: different subjects which are studied in different specialisations, influence from different teachers, teachers and parents different expectations in terms of vocational choices etc. The sample was made up of 40 boys (48%) and 44 girls (52%), who were asked to complete the Career orientation inventory and the Holland type interest questionnaire. 

Instruments The first instrument used was сareer orientation inventory, based on

Edgar Schein’s behaviour anchor theory and includes 40 items, whose the subject has to score from 1 to 6, depending on the degree of truthfulness of the corresponding item as applied to him. After this stage, the subject must identify items which he would score the highest and chose three of them which best match his situation and give them an extra four points.

The second instrument was Holland type interest questionnaire, based on Holland’s theory regarding occupational choices and includes 120 items, which describe certain activities, where the subject has to score 2, if he likes that particular activity, 1 if he is indifferent to it and 0 if he dislikes the activity.

Research results

The descriptive statistics of the dependent variables in the research hypotheses is represented in Table 1 and the descriptive statistics of the dependent variables in the working hypotheses is presented in Table 1.

  Variable Category Frequency Percent

         

  vocational interests realistic interests 7 8.3

    investigative interests 19 22.6

    artistic interests 11 13.1

    social interests 6 7.1

    entrepreneurial interests 32 38.1

    conventional interests 9 10.7

  career orientation technical anchor 15 17.9

    managerial competence anchor 2 2.4

    autonomy anchor 16 19.0

    security/stability anchor 8 9.5

    entepreneurial creativity anchor 14 16.7

    service/dedication to a cause anchor 8 9.5

    pure challenge anchor 12 14.3

    lifestyle anchor 9 10.7

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the dependent variables in the research hypotheses

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the dependent variables in the working hypotheses    

           

  Variable mean standard deviation confidence interval limits  

        

 

  realistic interests 11.01 9.19 m1=9.02; m2=13.01  

  investigative interests 19.37 9.10 m1=-17.39; m2=21.34  

  artistic interests 17.63 9.44 m1=15.58; m2=19.68  

  social interests 19.29 9.32 m1=17.25; m2=21.30  

  entrepreneurial interests 24.44 9.11 m1=22.46; m2=26.42  

  conventional interests 18.90 10.90 m1=16.54; m2=21.27  

  technical anchor 4.63 1.13 m1=4.38; m2=4.88  

  managerial competence anchor 3.78 1.20 m1=3.52; m2=4.04  

  autonomy anchor 4.48 1.27 m1=4.20; m2=4.76  

  security/stability anchor 4.48 0.91 m1=4.28; m2=4.68  

  entepreneurial creativity anchor 4.82 1.16 m1=4.56; m2=5.07  

  service/dedication to a cause anchor 4.11 1.36 m1=3.82; m2=4.41  

  pure challenge anchor 4.59 1.14 m1=4.34; m2=4.84  

  lifestyle anchor 4.41 1.13 m1=4.17; m2=4.66  

In order to test the research hypothesis the chi-square test was used. In order to test working hypothesis the independent samples t test was used. Research data (N=84) do not confirm the existence of certain differences in terms of gender regarding vocational interests (df=5, p=0,06). Research data do not enable to accept the working hypothesis according to which there would be gender differences in terms of: realistic vocational interests, investigative interests, artistic interests, social interests, entrepreneurial interests or conventional interests. The values of t, df and p are represented in table 3.

Table 3. Values of t, df and p for the working hypothesis (H1)        

               

      Dependent variable t df   p

               

      realistic interests 1.74 82   0.08

      investigative interests 1.18 82   0.84

      artistic interests 0.17 82   0.85

      social interests 1.73 82   0.08

      entrepreneurial interests 0.51 82   0.61

      conventional interests 0.95 82   0.34

Table 4. Values of t, df and p for the working hypothesis (H2)        

               

      Dependent variable   t df p

               

      technical anchor   1.67 82 0.09

      managerial competence anchor   0.60 82 0.54

      autonomy anchor   0.28 82 0.77

      security/stability anchor   -1.73 82 0.08

      entepreneurial creativity anchor   -1.43 82 0.15

      service/dedication to a cause anchor 0.70 82 0.48

      pure challenge anchor   1.34 82 0.18

      lifestyle anchor   -0.06 82 0.94

Research data do not confirm the existence of certain gender differences regarding career orientation (df= 7, p=0,65). Research data do not enable to accept the working hypothesis according to which there would be gender differences in terms of functional career anchor, managerial career anchor, autonomy career anchor, security career anchor, entrepreneurial career anchor, service/dedication to a cause career anchor, pure challenge career anchor or lifestyle career anchor. The values of t, df and p are represented in Table 4.

Conclusion The results show that there are no gender differences

regarding vocational interests or career orientation, neither at global level nor on either of the dimensions described by the authors of the theories which form the base of the study. This research data does not support the existence of a significant gender difference in terms of statistics regarding vocational interests or career orientation.  

 

One way of explaining this result from psychological perspective is that subjects are pupils with the same specialisation i.e. mathematics-informatics and the adopted specialisation can reflect adolescents’ interest and training for specific activities in terms of corresponding field, irrespective of their gender. Another explanation would be that, all pupils undergoing the study go to the same high school and generally have the same teachers, have been exposed to the same influences and thus, have been oriented towards the same fields of activity by their teachers.

Other explanation of the study result relies on the fact that the general tendency of modern society is to no longer make a difference between men and women in terms of fields of activity, considering that women, like men, can handle a challenging job, but also that men can successfully integrate in fields which are generally dominated by women.

THAN

K YOU